Wehmeyer's article on the Indian image in New Orleans altars the Caribbean connection.

In analyzing the version of Spiritism practiced in New Orleans, most authors have neglected to look to the Caribbean and farther south for vital parallels and possible influences. (1) Such is the case with Stephen Wehmeyer in his article "Indian Altars of the Spiritual Church" (African Arts, Winter 2000). While Wehmeyer readily admits that the Spiritual Churches of New Orleans combine a wide assortment of religious influences, among them "mediumistic practices derived from nineteenth-century American spiritualism" (p. 62), his article focuses on the possible connections of Spiritual traditions and iconography with the "nkisi traditions associated with Kongo culture in central Africa and the diaspora" (p. 63). We are presented with an essentialist analysis in which there is no attempt to speculate on how or when Kongo religious iconography or aesthetics gained a foothold in New Orleans and why this particular influence was, according to Wehmeyer's reading, so important to the Spiritual Church.

In this brief analysis I will concentrate on only one aspect of this altar art: the ubiquitous image of the Indian. Different images of the Indian may have reinforced its inclusion on Spiritist altars, and many of the elements Wehmeyer reads as Kongo--even the particular aesthetic manner of arranging an altar with Indian statues and other paraphernalia--may derive from versions of Kardecian Spiritism, known throughout the Spanish-speaking Caribbean and Latin America as Espiritismo. (2) I am inclined to highlight Kardecian Spiritism, reinterpreted by Caribbean practitioners, because of the particular way the art of the altar is emphasized and the prominence of Indian spirit guides in its practice.

The historical tapestry is complicated. There certainly are multiple sources for the image of the Indian in New Orleans rituals, and the following is intended to suggest a historical network that may provide a time frame and illuminate an impetus for its importance and popularity:

1) Practitioners of nineteenth-century North American Spiritualism frequently contacted the spirits of Indians, such as White Eagle, Red Cloud, White Hawk, and Black Hawk, but as far as I can determine, these spirits are not represented in altar art.

2) In Cuba, followers of (Kardecian-inspired) Espiritismo include images of Indians on their altars and make contact with various Indian spirits. Also, the Indian is prevalent in altar art associated with branches of Palo Monte Mayombe, a religion with central African origins. It is through Palo Monte traditions that central-African-based aesthetics may have filtered through to New Orleans.

3) In Puerto Rico, Espiritismo altars contain multiple images of Indians, and devotees make contact with Indian spirits.

4) The crucial dates in considering the possibility of a Caribbean, and maybe a particular Cuban, influence on Spiritist practices in New Orleans are 1870-1900. (But I do not intend to discount continued influence in the twentieth century.)

5) In its practice Espiritismo was conceived as standing against the rigid dogma of the Catholic Church. It thus appealed to the creole petite bourgeoisie and the mostly Afro-Cuban working class and unemployed. These are the same segments of Cuban (and Puerto Rican) society that supported the various military efforts to gain independence from Spain, finally, in 1898. U.S. military occupation continued until 1902, and again from 1906 to 1909. (3)

6) During the Spanish-American War, New Orleans bands played for troops in Cuba, returning around 1901. (4) In the 1860s until the early decades of the twentieth century there was frequent boat service between Havana and New Orleans (exact dates still need to be researched).

7) In the 1860s Havana Carnival and Dia de Reyes celebrations became major tourist attractions, a development that continued into the twentieth century. Public parades of Afro-Cuban cabildos led by a queen and accompanied by masqueraders wearing feather headdresses were frequent. Often these masqueraders were "understood" to represent Indians. (I will write about this on a later occasion and link it to a possible central African source.)

8) The dates for the beginning of Mardi Gras Indian bands and the florescence of Kardecian Spiritism overlap. The first documented Indian bands appeared in the mid-to late 1880s. I strongly believe a major impetus behind their organization was Buffalo Bill Cody and his Wild West Show in New Orleans, during the 1884-85 winter season, and the 1885 New Orleans International Cotton and World Trade Fair, which included a large display of Plains Indian art and culture.

9) Members of Black Hawk Spiritual Churches in New Orleans are often also members of, or related to members of, various Mardi Gras Indian tribes.

10) The designation of the Spiritual Indian guide as Black Hawk is particular to Mother Anderson and her followers. By the time Mother Anderson was specifically identified with Black Hawk, the Indian had been represented in Mardi Gras celebrations for at least forty years. (5)

The above suggestions and their linkage around a specific historical frame may both clarify and complicate the identification of and discussion of the image of the Indian as found on New Orleans Spiritual altars. Its various representations in different contexts may have reinforced its appearance on these altars. In a forthcoming article I will discuss in depth this image in Espiritismo and Palo Monte Mayombe and relate it to central African material.

Braude, Anne. 1989. Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women's Rights in 19th Century America. Boston: Beacon Press.

Britten, Emma Hardinge. 1870. Modern American Spiritualism. New Hyde Park, NY: University Books. 1st ed. 1857.

Estes, David. 1987. "Across Ethnic Boundaries: St. Joseph's Day in a New Orleans Afro-American Spiritual Church," Mississippi Folklore Register 21:9-22.

Kaslow, Andrew J. 1979. "The Afro-American Celebration of St. Joseph's Day in New Orleans," Perspectives on Ethnicity in New Orleans, ed. J. Cooke and M. Blanton, pp. 48-52. New Orleans: Committee on Ethnicity in New Orleans.

Nelson, Geoffrey K. 1969. Spiritualism and Society. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Pimple, Kenneth. 1995. "Ghosts, Spirits, and Scholars: The Origins of Modern Spiritualism," Out of the Ordinary: Folklore and the Supernatural, ed. B. Walker, pp. 75-90. Logan, UT: Utah State University Press.

Thompson, Robert Farris. 1983. Flash of the Spirit. New York: Random House.

Thompson, Robert Farris. 1993. Faces of the Gods: Art and Altars of Africa and the African Americas. New York: The Museum for African Art.

Judith Bettelheim
Department of Art
San Francisco State University
San Francisco, California

JUDITH BETTELHEIM, Professor of Art History at San Francisco State University, has conducted fifteen research trips to Cuba since 1985. She is the editor of the forthcoming Cuban Festivals: A Century of Afro-Cuban Culture (Ian Randle Publishers, fall 2001) and the curator of "Jose Bedia: Of the Spirit: Afro-Cuba Meets Native America," a major exhibition opening in fall 2002.